Disappointed

moden
moden Forum Participant Posts: 1
edited April 2019 in UK Campsites & Touring #1

We thought caravanning was all about freedom and being able to hitch up and go. Not with the Caravan Club!! Contacted Balbirnie Caravan park when it opened in March re staying for couple months only to be told seasonal pitches all allocated in September. In Spain currently and going back to Scotland via Portugal in May. Contacted Caravan Club re sites to be told they cannot book at such short notice. Not good enough. Perhaps you should spend more effort accommodating adventurers and free spirits who love the freedom of the open road and spontaneity 

Moderator Comment - Moved from the Story Section

Comments

  • DavidKlyne
    DavidKlyne Club Member Posts: 13,867 ✭✭✭
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    edited April 2019 #3

    Moden

    Not sure I fully understand your comment. You appear to require a seasonal pitch but have left it too late to apply for one? I am not sure what a seasonal pitch has to do with spontaneity unless you feel they should be available on demand? You can of course stay at a Club site for the maximum period of 21 days (?) and then move to another site assuming that the sites you wish to visit have continuity of pitches to book for that period. 

    David

  • mickysf
    mickysf Forum Participant Posts: 6,474 ✭✭✭
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    edited April 2019 #4

    Have I misunderstood? I don't recognise these issues either. They seem to be contradictory and not the way things are done in my experience. Is it me?

    21 nights move off for one and return, that's also possible given availability.

  • Navigateur
    Navigateur Club Member Posts: 3,880 ✭✭✭✭✭
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    edited April 2019 #5

    We all know that pitches can be booked with notice as short as turning up and asking!

    As for Balbirnie Park - those who have visited will know there is NO outlook (apart from back of some council houses) so staying there for two months would surely drive anyone batty.

     

  • SteveL
    SteveL Club Member Posts: 12,310 ✭✭✭
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    edited April 2019 #6

    I suppose the OP is unlikely to see this, as this is their one and only post / rant and done as a story.

    However, it is possible to get a seasonal pitch at short notice, if any remain unlet. Perhaps not at your chosen location though. Give the CC a ring and ask if they have any available. The folk next to us on our seasonal at Cirencester, last autumn, had been staying on a CL locally. Found out about the spare seasonals and booked one a few weeks after the official start date. 

  • Tinwheeler
    Tinwheeler Forum Participant Posts: 23,147 ✭✭✭
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    edited April 2019 #7

    It could be that the OP has no understanding of the 21day max stay on sites rule and has no knowledge of the seasonal pitch system. 

     

  • Takethedogalong
    Takethedogalong Forum Participant Posts: 17,060 ✭✭✭
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    edited April 2019 #8

    There seem to be an awful lot of opening posts around lately, usually plonked in the stories section, it’s wind up v niaivety of a high grade, so it’s kindness to go with wind up..........😁

  • moulesy
    moulesy Forum Participant Posts: 9,402 ✭✭✭✭✭
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    edited April 2019 #9

    I agree with the wind up theory. The juxtaposition of the sentences

    "We thought caravanning was all about freedom and being able to hitch up and go....... Perhaps you should spend more effort accommodating adventurers and free spirits who love the freedom of the open road and spontaneity"

    alongside a complaint that a pitch for 2 months wasn't available does seem rather curious, but again, as with so many similar first time posts recently the OP doesn't come back to respond further! frown

  • Milothedog
    Milothedog Forum Participant Posts: 1,433
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    edited April 2019 #10

    And Its not the only thing that this club falls down on either, I myself was extremely disappointed to discover that after paying my full membership fee and having traveled great distances to get to my pre booked sites, I was greeted with a flat refusal by the site staff to pitch and set up our caravan for us. wink 

    Even worse than that? upon requesting a  storage pitch near my home some two years ago, I was told I would have to go on a waiting list and it wasn't until about 8 months later I was offered a place in the storage compound. 

    What is this club like tongue-out

  • Takethedogalong
    Takethedogalong Forum Participant Posts: 17,060 ✭✭✭
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    edited April 2019 #11

    The membership is certainly evolving..........😁